Category Archives: The Cahuac Cycle

Hearken to me, O Children, and hear of the days when the world was still new, and the dew lay wet upon the ground, of a time when the shadows crept from the dark places to haunt the People.

In those days, the earliest of which we know, in the past so distant that the numbers of the days since are beyond those of the stars of the night, the People dwelt as one. They feared neither the shadows nor the dark places from which they crept, for they were mighty hunters.

The Cahuac Cycle has its origins many years ago, back in the late 90s. I was taking part in an online shared world building game. Each of us took control of a stone age tribe in various parts of the world and told the story of what happened to them, as they slowly went from palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, settling down and discovering advances such as farming, weaving, domestication of animals and more. We got into the early bronze age from memory. As part of the game, I told a story about Cahuac and his battle with the sun. It was written in such a manner as if it had been told by an oral storyteller from the days before a written language.

Quite a few years later, when working on one of the worlds I’ve written in, I took that old story and worked it into it, as part of the history. I then added three more short stories to flesh it out further, adding other myths and legends of the deeds of Cahuac.

I have recently started to add some more to them again. One, Cahuac and the Fisherman, has been finished, another, The Seven Sons of Cahuac, has almost been finished and two more, yet to be named, have been planned. After they have all been written and tidied up, they will join the first four on the site.

Hear, O Children, of the eldest of days when the world was yet young and the dew lay still upon the ground, of a time when the shadows from the dark places stalked the People.

In those days, the earliest that we know, in the past so distant that they are beyond the numbers of the sands on the shores, the People dwelt as one. Mighty hunters they were, who feared not the shadows, nor the dark places from which they crept.

Listen, O Children, of a time when the world was yet young, and the dew lay still upon the earth, of days when the shadows crept from the dark places to stalk the People.

In those days, the earliest of which we know, in a past so distant that the numbers thereof are beyond those of the stars, the People dwelt as one. They feared neither the shadows nor the dark places from which they crept, for they were mighty hunters.

Hear, O Children, hear of the days when the world was yet young and the dew lay still upon the earth, of a time when the shadows from the dark places stalked the People.

In those days, the earliest that we know, in the past so distant that numbers can not count the passing of the seasons, the People dwelt as one. Mighty hunters they were, that feared neither the shadows nor the dark places they crept from.

For the next four Wednesdays, I will be posting up something a little different than the current selection of stories. Each post will be a short story of between one to two thousand words that form the The Cahuac Cycle. In time there will be more stories in the collection, though they are as of yet not written.

These are fantasy, but not your typical fantasy – they are mythic fantasy from the dawn of time, tales from a people called the Aracan about their greatest ancestor-hero, Cahuac, his adventures and how the world came to be as it is.

The first four stories are Cahuac and the Sun, The Bowl of Storms, Cahuac and the Bees and Wolf and the Stars